Proof
without taking off the BIG grounds
I attempted to make another soft ground etching, while drawing the live model.
I used a bridge this time
Last month I did not use a bridge, and smeared most of the plate with the edge of my hand, rendering the whole effort unusable. However last year I made a successful soft grounds etching during Mary Teichman's workshop at Argos Studio and Gallery in Santa Fe.
Newsprint paper taped over
the copper plate covered with wet BIG black grounds,
drawn from a live model with a dull lead holder pencil,
using a sturdy bridge to protect the drawing in wet grounds
Final drawing
Drawing on the underside of the newsprint,
after peeling it off the wet BIG grounds
on the copper plate --
note how the drawing is reversed!
The copper plate,
after I peeled off the newsprint paper drawing
At this point the process is not finished. I need to etch the copper plate with the BIG grounds on it, before making a print. I believe I could etch the plate immediately, while wet, without disturbing the ferric chloride "acid" bath.
However, I will harden the BIG grounds first, by placing it in a clear plastic box, and leaving it in the New Mexico sun. The box will protect the grounds from gathering dust, as well as create a mini-greenhouse to heat up the copper plate. At the point where the grounds are no longer sticky, I have a hard grounds plate.
With a hard grounds plate, I can scribe over the plate with an etching tool, adding thin lines to the drawing before I etch it. This is not something that one can do with traditional soft grounds, but will work with the BIG grounds.
However, I will probably etch the plate first, and make a proof without taking off the now harden BIG grounds. Then I can scribe into the plate, adding new thin lines, and etch it again. Who knows what kind of exciting disaster awaits.
The next day (Nov 11th) I went to the South Valley Studio Tour in Albuquerque, and visited the studios of Barbara Endicott and Laurence Wellborn. I left them some copper plates with BIG grounds, to lure them into etching.
Barbara Endicott, Laurence Wellborn, and Ken Romig all draw consistently at the 3rd Street Art drawings sessions in Albuquerque.
Update (Nov 15):
I etched the plate for 30 minutes at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque, and made a quick proof with Akua black ink, without taking off the BIG grounds. I didn't get anything in the proof. We think that the acid bath was weak, but of course, I could have made an error somewhere. Still, I should have gotten something.
Update (Nov 15):
I etched the plate for 30 minutes at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque, and made a quick proof with Akua black ink, without taking off the BIG grounds. I didn't get anything in the proof. We think that the acid bath was weak, but of course, I could have made an error somewhere. Still, I should have gotten something.
Bad Proof
Note, this etching started out as a soft grounds print using BIG grounds. However, after drawing on the plate, I left it out in the sun. Actually, I left it in a plastic box, out in the New Mexico sun, and the greenhouse hardened the grounds. This is how I prepare a BIG hard ground plate.
My idea was to etch and proof the soft grounds image, and then to scribe into it and etch it again. I can do that because the soft grounds turns into hard grounds after being in the New Mexico sun for a while.
Update (Nov 17):
I took the plate to El Paso, for Manuel Guerra to look at it in his Horned Toad Prints studio. We checked the plate out under a loop, and it did not look like it etched.
No etching depth
under the magnifying loop
So Manuel etched it in his ferric chloride for 37 minutes (he said that his "ferric chloride" was "hot"), and it etched. He then made proof on good paper, but with out taking off the BIG grounds. Later, when cleaning the ink off, some of the BIG grounds started coming off.
Proof and etched plate --
image was proofed without taking off the BIG grounds,
but the BIG grounds started coming off
after the ink was washed off
The proof (left)
next to the backside of the drawing (right),
after it was pulled off the wet BIG plate --
very similar,
it looks like the etching preserved
all of the lines
Hi,
ReplyDeleteCan you specify what the problem was on the case you did not get anything on your proof? Because it happens to me exact same way, and really need to know why!
I still don't know what the problem is. In the past I have left the ground to harden in the New Mexico sun, and that worked. Then more recently it didn't, but that was in the winter. So I am assuming that the temperature swing, from hot to cold, might have been working against me in November.
DeleteLast month someone told me that I have to heat the grounds on a hot plate at a specific temperature, in order to consistently get BIG to work. I was planning on trying that, but because of Covid 19 lock down, I don't have access to the full studio at the moment.
Sorry I didn't answer sooner, I just noticed this comment right now.